How models prepare for Christmas parties

It's Christmas party season, and if you've got a work do coming up, there's a high chance that you'll be wanting to look your absolute best.

This is your chance to show the people you work with that no, you aren’t always in your work clothes – and yes, you can party down with the best of them without losing your cool.

But looking good while tip-toeing around office politics and drinking copious amounts of alcohol is a task that's easier said than done.

So who better to ask than the professional partiers themselves: runway models.

According to Ricardo Riskalla, founder of RawFit and the head trainer at IMG Models Australia, Christmas party season is the big leagues for many models looking to secure a contract, so many of them perform a type of pre-season ritual to get their beauty looks ready.

"Models and celebrities are out there all the time attending parties, openings and events, and they have to make sure their body, skin and hair look the best they can," Riskalla tells Coach.

"Is there any trick to it? Yes, there is – and it all revolves around the quality of food that we ingest and the quality of the environment in which we live."

Two weeks out: Clean up your diet

We all know that the healthier you eat, the better you'll look. That's the funny thing about suddenly introducing a whole variety of nutrients into your diet – you tend to feel really nourished.

And the benefits of a high nutrient diet directly pull into having a pretty good looking body – think shinier hair, brighter skin and eyes, and even a more upright posture.

According to Riskalla, most models – particularly around important shows or castings – will also go the extra step of improving the quality of the foods they eat (like choosing grass-fed beef over regular grain-fed cuts).

"My recommendation is to pay huge attention in foods that are high in antioxidants, low in sugar and high in minerals and vitamins," explains Riskalla.

There's also the little issue of what not to eat. Riskalla recommends to most of his models that they cut back on anything that can cause bloating or water retention, like salt, artificial sweeteners, sugars and preservatives.

If you've got a slinky party dress or a high-end pair of jeans to fit into, simply changing what you eat won't really do the job to help you drop a kilo or two – you've got to also reduce the amount you eat, too.

"It is also important to regulate your portions because even the best foods in excess can cause the reverse effect," says Riskalla.

"The rule I use is to stick to around two to three meals a day, and make sure you never eat until you are fully full."

(Purely out of curiosity, Riskalla's strategy for stopping your meal before you're stuffed is actually an ancient Japanese practice known as Hara Hachi Bu, or "eat until you are 80 percent full".)

One week out: Swap intense exercise for gentler options

The science on getting fit as humanly fast as possible is pretty clear: to see quick results you have to train with a lot of intensity, for a very short amount of time.

But if you've got an important occasion coming up – like an office Christmas party that requires you to be in somewhat risqué fancy dress – Riskalla recommends taking it easy so as not to spike your appetite.

"In terms of exercise the recommendation is to go easy, because if you go too hard you'll get super hungry," says Riskalla.

"You know that feeling of eating like an animal after running a marathon – that's what we are trying to avoid."

Riskalla recommends swapping those weights sessions and CrossFit classes for something that lets you get a bit sweaty, while also relaxing you fully like long walks, swimming or surfing.

"Try to exercise outdoors to get that extra relaxing benefit from being outside in nature," says Riskalla.

"If training with a trainer, focus on long duration exercises using your own body weight. The best exercises would be push ups, full crunches, chin ups and full squats."